strep!

So after being all whiny about feeling awful running earlier this week, I finally went in to the doctor today, after some serious encouragement from Neil (probably brought on by the fact that I was sitting on the bed crying at 11 am in my bathrobe.  I've really been feeling awful).  I kept waiting for things to get better, but they haven't, but I also didn't feel super horrible, and I would always start to feel better by the end of the day, and then the nights were bad...yadda yadda yadda.

Anyway, I went to the doctor today, and found out that a) I have fluid in both ears b) the beginnings of a sinus infection and c) what is probably strep throat (she didn't culture it because the lab people are all out until Monday).  So.  I started my Z-pack and took my Mucinex-D and felt a lot better--surprise surprise! 

And since I felt jittery and headachy without exercise, I decided to try just a little after the kids were in bed.  The doctor at the student health center told me not to do anything other than lie in bed all weekend, but honestly that's foreign enough to my body that I think it would just make things worse, so I sort of ran very gently with walking breaks to see how it went. 

Feeling SO much better now--I ran 4 10-minute intervals (1 mile each, so I was running very slowly) with 4 minutes of walking in between to get my heart rate and breathing back down.  The coughing was a lot better with the walking breaks, and I really feel so much better after "running."  Hopefully I can sleep well tonight--I think just getting a solid 8 hours would make a huge difference, since I haven't been able to sleep more than 4 or 5 all week. 

32 weeks

Wow!  Proud of myself today for running--I've been sick for five or six days and after Monday's lousy run, I was not looking forward to today at all.  (But it was better than Monday--I wasn't nearly as nauseated, for one thing.) 

Stopped today @ 2.1 miles for water and walked for 4 minutes, since I was having trouble with coughing.  Stopped after another 1.3 miles for the same thing, it seemed a little silly to stop but I was glad I did since Jules came in just a second or two later asking me to get her a snack and flip her audiotape over to the other side.  Finished out the last .6 mile, then put Isaac on my bed with a snack while I walked to cool down and finished up with 5 miles (4 running and 1 walking).

Top speed today was only 6.2; I just never felt good enough to bump it up to 6.5, so I ran at 6.2 the entire time. 

STATS:  4 miles @ 9:40 (plus cool-down)

10/4, 10/2, 10/1

Ran 5 this morning and 5 on Friday.  Saturday was supposed to be a long run, but after the awfulness of spending Thursday in the ER with Neil, I was a wreck.  Neil wanted to run, so we ran about five and a half together, but I was having awful stomach cramps around 5, so we decided to walk for a couple minutes (we were almost home) and then stop for Conference, which was just starting.  I thought about running on the treadmill during conference, but I was just feeling so sick like I was going to throw up any minute.  So then I thought I'd run after Conference.  I got up to go and I was so nauseated and dizzy.  I ended up showering and just sort of sitting on the floor feeling terrible.  I felt awful the rest of the day and had stomach cramps all afternoon until I finally went to bed that night.

Today I'm still exhausted.  I couldn't sleep last night because I was so stressed over the last week and how much I have to do this week.  My running partner mentioned that I shouldn't even do the 12-miler I have planned for Saturday (next Saturday the 16th is the half-marathon).  She suggested that I just start tapering this week.  I'm leaning towards this option because a) both people I regularly trade running babysitting with will be out of town this week b) I have been so tired plus Neil has a concussion and c) I'm 8 weeks pregnant.  Surprise surprise!  I'm not mentioning this on my regular blog because I don't want people to hassle me about still running, but it's affecting my running enough that I decided to go ahead and mention it here.  I don't want my body to be totally shocked by the 13 (although I don't care about time anymore and I just want to finish) so I don't know whether it will be better to NOT stress myself with the 12, or whether the thirteen will feel harder having only run 10 miles as my longest run this training period.  I have a TON of grading to do this week and I'm kind of an emotional wreck right now (lots of stress + pregnancy hormones + husband in the ER was a very bad combo!), so the idea of somehow wedging in 12 miles this Saturday is not very pleasant. 

So what would you do?  Try to fit in the 12, or just do a 6 or 7 and call it tapering?  Anybody have pregnant-and-running advice to share?

9/20

Oh boy, did I NOT want to go running this morning.  I slept about twelve hours yesterday--totally coming down with the awful cold the kids have.  And once we drove the 3 hours home and I was in my own bed, I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about everything I needed to do.  So crawling out of bed this morning was not pleasant at all.

I'm glad I went, however, because I feel better now than when I first got up.  It was definitely not my most impressive time ever, but on 4 hours of sleep last night, my goal was to not stop and just keep running.  Which I did. 

STATS:  5 miles, 9:38/mile

9/15

Three-miler this morning.  I thought about running farther, but my body is really starting to not be happy with me.  The rest of my life is contributing stress, so that I'm getting physically worn out, even when I'm not running 200 miles a week or something crazy like that.  (Although most people who run that much probably don't have a ton of other commitments, because really, how would you have time? Or maybe they do and I'm just a wimp.) Apparently 25 a week is enough for all kinds of crazy things to start happening; my menstrual cycle has become incredibly irregular/nonexistent, and I'm so tired that I  fell asleep the other night after dinner with Juliet sitting on my head brushing my hair and Isaac climbing over my legs.

So I'm really looking forward to the 10K this weekend; it means I'm only running 6.2 miles on Saturday, plus I'm going to take Thurs and Fri. off.  I feel like a wimp, but honestly, I haven't missed a single run in the last 8 weeks, and the five runs a week is taking a toll on me.  I am just worn out, and I've got to recharge before that race.

Anybody else feel this way?  (And in particular, I am kind of disturbed by the whole athletic amenorrhea thing.  Granted, it hasn't been six months for me, which is the diagnosis point, but one of the reasons why I decided not to do a marathon was so I didn't mess that up too much, since I'd like to have another baby in the next year or so.  One of my friends told me that it was pretty much the norm for everyone on her college soccer team and then again on her mission, but still...it kind of worries me).  Has this happened to anyone else, or have you heard of it before?

STATS:  3 miles; didn't time, but probably around 8:50ish/mile

8/13

I woke up at 5:45 today to go running.  I was out by six, it was so dark I could see about ten feet of sidewalk in front of me.  Fog swirled across the path, and I watched the sun rise.

I ran a mile and a half to the trailhead where I was meeting my running buddy (who ended up being a little late this morning, so I had time to eat the banana I'd carried over, get a drink from the fountain, and run around the trailhead loop).  When she got there, we ran four miles (down to the end of the road and back).  Then we said goodbye and I ran the mile and a half home.  I did the long run today since we're planning to go to the beach tomorrow, and I don't want to fall asleep in the sand. 

Running felt good today, but I did not necessarily feel so good.  This isn't the sort of thing I normally go around talking about, but since it affects my training, we'll just say that it's that time of month, so I am really proud of myself for running at all.  Slow though I was, at least I didn't have to stop and throw up.  My goal today was simple:  just keep running.  Slow is just fine today.

STATS:  7 miles, 9:04/mile